FourSquare and My Personal What-Now Factor
FourSquare.com: What exactly are you?
Badges? I don't want no stinkin' badges!
I’ve been using FourSquare for months now. I can’t recall where I heard about it, but I immediately signed up and started using it on my iPhone. If I were pitching FourSquare as a television show I’d pitch it like this:
FourSquare is Facebook meets Twitter meets Google Maps meets Yelp meets the Boy Scouts.
The Boy Scouts? That’s right. Basically, FourSquare allows you to connect with friends, ‘check-in’ at real-world places, add tips (or to-do’s), and earn points towards badges. Badges? Yeah, you can earn virtual badges. Quite frankly, I’m not sure I get it. The problem for me after months of use is that FourSquare doesn’t do any of these things very well — it seems to be trying to be everything to everyone and in the process it’s nothing to me.
August marks the beginning of adoption phase
In July of this year, both Forbes magazine and the New York Times blog wrote about FourSquare.com, pushing the interest and increasing exposure for the new channel. This exposure helped push the channel from the experimentation phase into adoption, spurring a whole new set of users to try the channel.
FourSquare.com New Media Life Cycle Analysis
The exposure for FourSquare has continued to expand their user base. We expect the news coverage to continue introducing FourSquare to new audiences over the next six months. I’m sure that primary use for the channel is on the mobile device, so the recent explosion may even be larger than what we see above.
That said, I think the chances of seeing a sharp drop-off in use over the next three months is tremendous, gauging by my own experience. I hit the What Now? moment fairly quickly, and at this point I find FourSquare notifications extremely annoying.
There’s potential, but mash it up
I don’t want to sound like all I’m doing is bashing FourSquare. I think there’s something there. The problem with the channel is that the content added by the people I’m connected with is useless. I don’t really care that my friend is at the local coffee shop for the third time this week or that she’s the mayor of my local grocery store. However, if people could add real tips or legitimate reviews — like on Yelp — I’d be far more interested in the content added by users.
The bottom line is that the channel adds very little value from a content perspective. If the content on FourSquare changes, it might be worth spending time there.
Local businesses should check it out
Add FourSquare to your Adoption portfolio only if you have a local retail or restaurant business
If you’re a local business owner, you should certainly spend some time every week checking out FourSquare. By adding FourSquare to your Diversified Distribution Portfolio this early in its life cycle, you can mitigate risk by spending some time understanding the channel and reading or engaging with local visitors who stop by your restaurant or retail store.
One of the things many of my co-workers have said about FourSquare is that if you’re not into the ‘game’ aspects of FourSquare, it can become really annoying — so be conscious about over participation. Many users won’t care that you’re the mayor of the local hair salon.
Here’s an opportunity for business owners as well: FourSquare doesn’t require you to actually be at the location you’re ‘checking-in’ at. So perhaps you can encourage real-world check-ins by offering a discount or drink special to those who are participating honestly on FourSquare. You’ll help make the content better as a result!
Make sure you don’t get too distracted with FourSquare. Only time will tell if it will continue to grow the way it has over the last two months.
About The New Media Life Cycle Analysis
The New Media Life Cycle Analysis is the brainchild of the Tippingpoint Labs strategy team. Each week, our team takes a look at a new media channel and presents its findings here, to help chief marketing officers, directors of marketing and social media experts add some context to their social media and content marketing strategies. If there is a new platform or channel you’d like to see us evaluate, please let us know. We’re more than eager to take a look!
About the author
Andrew Davis -
In 2002, Andrew founded Tippingpoint Labs with journalist James Cosco. Since then, he's spent countless hours exploring the online universe and building a methodological approach to developing digital strategies that drive revenue or reduce costs.
Andrew's always asking big questions and analyzing data to understand markets, online forces and even business models. Andrew's research has resulted in the creation of innovative online metrics including Online Brand Value and Category Brand Value, eye-opening graphical representations of website evolution through the New Media Life Cycle and even using online data to predict offline revenue.
When he's not surfing the web, Andrew's traveling the globe speaking to a wide-variety of audiences about everything from social media to the future of print. Andrew is a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint Labs website and has been creating valuable content since the early 1990s for The Jim Henson Company, CNN, The Today Show and MTV.
He's contributed to a book of short stories, called The Way Things Were and produced and co-wrote Roadside Ambition a documentary film about one small town with two huge balls.
"In a world where content is consumed as rapidly as it's created, companies need to develop a sound strategy to creating valuable online experiences that can, and should, be leveraged enterprise-wide. There is a content solution to every business challenge."Popular Posts
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Couldn’t agree more! I hit the “What Now” moment long ago and recently deleted the app from my iPhone. I think they need more time to figure out what really works. As a “hot or not” type app (what’s going on RIGHT NOW and where should I go?), it has potential. And building in more Yelp-like features is also a no-brainer. The game part completely baffles me, but I guess I’m not a gamer! I am curious to see where they end up after they’ve had another 6 months – especially if the attrition rate is high. (They’ll have to figure out what really works on focus on that.)
Bill,
Thanks for commenting. The experience is less than engaging – in my opinion – and I think you’re right. Their attrition rate is going to remain high, until the content value improves greatly. I’m not a gamer either so the badges mean nothing to me. I don’t need points for going to the dry cleaner. :)
Have a great day!
Thanks for participating!
- Drew
I don’t have an iphone yet (hoping for one for Christmas) but this App sounds a bit annoying. I don’t really understand what I’d want to use it for.
The other commenter’s suggestion of using it for “what’s hot & what’s not” type of app sounds good. Especially useful if you were traveling or on holiday.
Amelia,
I wouldn’t rush to download FourSquare when you get your new iPhone. It’s not worth it – yet. Let me know if you do try it. I’d love to hear your opinion!
Thanks for commenting!
- Drew
“The problem with the channel is that the content added by the people I’m connected with is useless. I don’t really care that my friend is at the local coffee shop for the third time this week or that she’s the mayor of my local grocery store. However, if people could add real tips or legitimate reviews — like on Yelp — I’d be far more interested in the content added by users.”
That’s just it, isn’t it? The current generation of “millennials” or “gen y-ers” or whatever you want to call them are the ones that are serving as a rough, early litmus test to the ways in which content generation that’s geared directly at them (read: consumer) facilitates a rich user experience which for companies, can generate traffic, interest, interaction, and in a best case scenario – sales. Location-awareness functionality is great and all (in a creepy, Orwellian voyeuristic way, anyhow) but it means bupkiss in the end because what really drives people to a site that promises to let you in on where they are, what they’re doing, and what the “others” have said about it (which opens up a discussion vein of subjectivity, a whole other matter). So in the end, if Foursquare or some other platform with a similar idea fused the two ideas of location-based social media with content-generating commentary, well, that’s sort of what twitter is doing in a much less organized, chaotic, and sensory overload way since its explosion onto the scene and continual meteoric rise.
But what does that mean in the larger content-marketing sense? Not sure, but I think the real question is how could one take what’s missing in FourSquare and apply it in a “lessons learned” model for another company to ensure their revenue growth that transcends demographics. Imagine a world where some Gen Y-er who knows exactly the location and opinion of every one of their Facebook friends on any given company, experience, film, or book, and imagine if the functionality and ease of use/interaction means their stodgy grandparents could understand and interact in a similar way with minimal knowledge or intuitive web-usage habits.
You’d have a pretty powerful platform, and more dollars in the pocket of the company that figures that out. And don’t forget – it’s the grandparents who have the money to burn on the grandkiddies, after all….
Interesting stuff.
I think your line graph is wrong though, as it seems to bend time going from Dec 2009 to Jan 2009 ;)
Daniel,
Thanks so much for your comment. You’re absolutely right… I think I’ll have to redo this graphic.
I’m on vacation, but when I get home… I’ll fix it right up.
Too bad I can’t time travel. :)
Thanks again for reading!
Nice post.
I believe in leveraging technologies in creative ways, and still use 4square as more of a voting system, and i have more time for this then to write reviews for yelp. I personally like seeing where my friends are at while out on the town(dodgeball), sometimes it allows me to stop by where they are at to say hi. Like-wise, I prefer it’s simplified “shout-out” option, where i can just quickly say something the lines of “chocolate martini excellence”. The fact that i am even checking into the place, is essentially a vote to my friends that it might be worth stopping in for.
The game / badges option is worthless and is less interesting then any social gaming option out there. It feels like someone’s bad idea didn’t past the non-existent program management. That is ok though, someone will find it cute… and I have seen people joke around about the mayor option.